In English 303 you will do two major projects, the Group Project and the Term Paper. The paper is a traditional critical paper which includes no graphics. It demonstrates that you can write effectively in the traditional academic manner.

However, the world is changing, and what is expected of teachers, technical writers, and others attempting to present their ideas to the public is changing as well. Often, people are asked to work in groups rather than as individuals, and to present their work in a new way. Graphics, color, video, sound bites--these are the wave of the future whether we approve or not. Hence the group project for this course.

Students will work in groups of three, decided by lottery. The general topic will be assigned to your group: you will be required to introduce and explain to the class a writer, a group of writers, a genre, a theme--something that the class will not cover as a whole. As the instructor will base lecture references and quiz and examination questions on your work, you have a major responsibility to contribute to the content of this course.

Along with your topic, you will also receive the date that your presentation is due. How you present your project on that day is up to you, but you must have the equivalent of a twenty-minute oral presentation, which is also the equivalent of a ten- page double-spaced paper.

However, you are not to turn in an ordinary paper--you will do that for the Term Paper later in the course. This assignment requires considerably more imagination. The group project is a presentation. It requires words, but it also requires graphics: pictures, charts, maps, video, slides, animation--whatever will heighten interest in your topic. If you are presenting orally, show-and-tell with costumes, implements, etc. is also acceptable--or photographs of these items may be part of either other method of presentation.

Here are the three methods of presentation from which you may choose, listed from hardest to easiest:

A paper with graphics. Your group will write a paper about your topic, illustrating it with pictures, charts, maps, and other appropriate graphic material. It is your responsibility to prepare a copy for every member of the class. This is the hardest method because it eliminates sound entirely and makes the use of color difficult and expensive. It also eliminates the most effective use of the personalities of group members.

An oral presentation. One, two, or all three members present the group's project to the class, taking approximately twenty minutes. You may use audio, video, slides, handouts, charts, maps--whatever you need. All audio-visual aids are your responsibility--check out availability in advance. This method provides the widest range of possibilities. You may demonstrate a dance, sing a Gregorian chant, draw charts on the board--whatever it takes. While this is almost certain to be the most popular option, because it is the most fun, it is not the easiest.

A website. Not only is this the easiest opti on, but it is also the one most likely to enhance your marketability in the future! I suggest that you build your site at Geocities rather than on the Murray State Server (Geocities' file manager/editor is superior to MSU's upload/download system). When you are ready to search for a job, you can claim HTML as one of your skills. After you graduate, your Geocities site will stay put on the WWW as an example of your skills.

HTML is the easiest way of building something impressive ever invented! If anyone in your group is already web-savvy, that person will tell you how astonishingly easy it is to find and import or link to material you need, to use color, animation, and even sound files on your site. However, you must have original content! A site that is nothing but imported material and links to other sites will not fare well.

As with all of these projects, you have the responsibility to provide the class with solid information about your topic. Just as if you were writing a paper, you will have to think through content, organization, and yes, mechanics. Website text full of mechanical errors is not impressive, and a site that cannot be negotiated easily is a disaster. In fact, designing a website is a great way to learn to organize your thoughts!

So there are your choices. Meet with your partners and decide on both an approach to your topic and a method of presentation. The Group Project is one-sixth of your grade for the course. It's worth putting forth some effort to do it right.

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